A NEW URBANRURAL CLASSIFICATION OF ALBANIAN POPULATION THE EU GEOGRAPHICAL TYPOLOGY BASED ON GRID DATA May, 2014 A NEW URBAN-RURAL CLASSIFICATION OF ALBANIAN POPULATION MAY, 2014 Director of the Publication: Gjergji FILIPI, PhD INSTAT Ervin Shameti Nexhmije Lecini EU TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE Roberto Bianchini Copyright © INSTAT 2014 No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Disclaimer: This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this European Union. Printed with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. ISBN: 978 - 9928 - 188 - 10 -6 INSTITUTI I STATISTIKAVE Blv. “Zhan D’Ark” Nr. 3, Tiranë Tel : + 355 4 2222411 / 2233356 Fax : + 355 4 2228300 E-mail : [email protected] Printing house: Preface and acknowledgements Statistical data for urban and rural areas are of some considerable importance for the central government and for local authorities while planning and managing services for local communities. For instance, the allocation of health and social care funding, housing, roads, water and sewerage and the provision and maintenance of schools have all distinctive aspects in urban and rural areas. Employment for urban and rural population has different features as well. In Albania, as in most other countries, it is difficult to distinguish exactly the urban population from the rural one. Even though not always reflecting what is certainly urban or rural, in Albania, the administrative definition based on the law is used also for statistical purposes. However, the present availability of small-area data derived from the 2011 population and housing census covering the entire territory of the country, has made possible an attempt to introduce also in Albania new definitions and classifications of urban and rural areas for statistical purposes. This has been technically feasible thanks to the availability of census data organised in a geo-referenced database, managed by INSTAT. This attempt has been carried out taking into consideration European standards, and specifically a new approach adopted by Eurostat to classify European regions using cell grids of equal size (1 km²), instead of local administrative units of different sizes, which limits data comparability considerably. Therefore, it is my utmost pleasure that INSTAT has been able to produce this volume, thanks to the capacity and devotion of the staff of the GIS and Cartographic Unit with ad-hoc support from the expertise of the census experts of the EU technical assistance. A special thanks goes to all the Institutions and donors who contributed to the conduction of the 2011 census, namely, the Government of Albania, the EU assistance (IPA 2009 and CARDS 2006), UNFPA - The United Nations Population Fund, SDC - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, UNDP - United Nations Development Programme, SIDA - Swedish International Development Agency. Gjergji FILIPI, PhD Director General of INSTAT Lista e publikimeve tematike të Censusit 2011, Maj 2014 List of 2011 Census thematic publications, May 2014 • Censusi i Popullsisë dhe Banesave 2011: karakteristikat ekonomike • 2011 Population and Housing Census: Economic Characteristics • Dimensionet e cilësisë së Censusit 2011 • Quality Dimensions of the 2011 Population and Housing Census of Albania • Kushtet e banimit dhe të jetesës • Dwelling and living conditions • Migracioni në Shqipëri • Migration in Albania • Një klasifikim i ri urban - rural i popullsisë shqiptare • A new urban - rural classification of Albanian population • Popullsia dhe dinamikat e saj - horizonte të reja demografike? • Population and population dynamics in Albania - New demographic horizons? • Projeksionet e popullsisë, 2011-2031 • Population Projections, 2011-2031 • Shqipëria 2011 Censusi në harta • Albania 2011 Census Atlas • Tipologjia e komunave dhe bashkive • Communes and Municipalities Typology • Lëvizjet vajtje-ardhje për qëllime punësimi • Commuting from home to work • Dinamikat e tregut të punës, 2001-2011 • Labour market dynamics, 2001-2011 • Aplikimi INSTATGIS – hartat në web (www.instatgis.gov.al) • INSTATGIS – Atlas web application (www.instatgis.gov.al) COntents LIST OF taBles 6 LIST OF figures 7 ABBREViatiONS AND MAIN DEFINITIOns 8 1. INTROductiOn 9 2. DEFINITION OF URBAN AND rural AREAS FOR POpulatiON AND HOUSING censuses 11 3. THE CURRENT ADMinistratiVE, GEOgraphic AND statistical TERRITORIAL OrganisatiON OF ALBANIA 13 3.1 NUTS and statistical regions in Albania 14 4. THE GRID-bASED APPROach FOR DISSEMinatiON OF CENSUS data 17 4.1 Implementation of the population grid of Albania 17 5. DEFINITION OF URBAN POpulatiON IN ALBania 21 5.1 Administrative definition and classification 21 5.2 Definition and classification by grid at regional level 26 5.3 Definition and classification by grid at city level 33 5.4 Definition and classification by grid at sub-regional level 43 6. Main FINDINGS AND COnclusiOns 45 Annexes 49 Annex 1. Local administrative units by degree of urbanisation 49 Annex 2. Resident population in Albania by urban and rural area in % 59 References 71 A new urban-rural classification of Albanian population 5 LIST OF taBLES Tab. 5.1 Urban areas in Albania defined by law 21 Tab. 5.2 Example of municipalities composed by cities and villages 23 were data was re-classified in the post-census phase Tab. 5.3 Municipalities composed by cities and villages 23 Tab. 5.4 Municipalities composed only by cities 24 Tab. 5.5 Municipalities composed only by villages 25 Tab. 5.6 Communes composed by cities and villages 25 Tab. 5.7 Resident population by region NUTS 3 and by urban-rural 25 Tab. 5.8 Grid-based urban population by regions NUTS 3 in Albania 31 Tab. 5.9 NUTS 3 in Albania by urban-rural typology 35 Tab. 5.10 Communes and municipalities with more than 50 % of their 37 population inside Urban Centres Tab. 6.1 Population by urban-rural typology for EU, EFTA, Croatia and 46 Albania, in % Annex 1 Local administrative units by degree of urbanisation 49 Annex 2. Resident population in Albania by urban and rural area in, % 59 6 A new urban-rural classification of Albanian population LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Administrative, geographic and statistical division of Albania 13 Figure 4.1 Grid of Albania 1km2 18 Figure 4.2 Building centroids and grid cells 19 Figure 4.3 Census data aggregated to grid cells 20 Figure 5.1 Group of contiguous grid cells 26 Figure 5.2 Grid cells with at least 300 inhabitants per Km² 27 Figure 5.3 Urban clusters in Albania 28 Figure 5.4 Urban cluster of Tirana before and after overlapping grid 29 clusters and administrative boundaries Figure 5.5 Aggregation of urban clusters at district and Qark (Prefecture) 29 levels using GIS tools Figure 5.6 Urban areas in Albania by NUTS 3 regions (Qarks or 30 Prefectures) Figure 5.7 NUTS 3 regions of Albania by urban-rural typology 32 Figure 5.8 Group of contiguous high-density grid cells 33 Figure 5.9 High-density grids in the areas of Tirana and Durres 34 Figure 5.10 Grouped high-density cells of the cities of Tiranë and Durrës 35 Figure 5.11 Communes and municipalities around the Urban Centres of 36 Albania Figure 5.12 Urban audit city and urban centre of Tiranë 38 Figure 5.13 Urban audit city and urban centre of Durrës 39 Figure 5.14 Urban audit city and urban centre of Vlorë 40 Figure 5.15 Urban audit city and urban centre of Shkodër 41 Figure 5.16 Urban audit city and urban centre of Elbasan 42 Figure 5.17 Communes and municipalities of Albania by urban-rural EU 44 typology Figure 6.1 Typology of clusters in Albania 47 A new urban-rural classification of Albanian population 7 ABBREViatiONS AND MAIN DEFINITIONS DEGURBA Degree of Urbanisation EA Enumeration Area EC European Commission EFGS European Forum for Geography and Statistics ESS European Statistical System EA Enumeration Area EFGS European Forum for Geography and Statistics EFTA European Free Trade Association EU European Union EUROSTAT The statistical Office of the European Union GIS Geographic Information System INSTAT Institute of Statistics of Albania LAU2 EU Local Administrative Unit level 2 NSI National Statistical Institute NUTS EU Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Municipality / Local administrative unit of Albania commune Qark Administrative unit of Albania (Region) Rrethe Geographic unit of Albania (District) Rural grid cell Grid cell outside urban clusters Urban centre Contiguous grid cells of 1 km² with a population density of at least 1,500 inhabitants / High-density per km² and a minimum population of 50,000 inhabitants cluster Urban cluster Cluster of contiguous grid cells of 1km² with a density of at least 300 inhabitants per km² and a minimum population of 5,000 inhabitants 8 A new urban-rural classification of Albanian population INTRODUCTION 1 1. INTROductiON This study is the first attempt made in Albania to identify the urban and rural population (and areas) through a rigorous approach based on the national administrative classification and based on a new statistical method proposed by the European Commission (EC). The new EU urban/rural typology considers 1 km² population density grids instead of densities calculated on the areas of administrative units. The main objective of this analysis is to classify the resident Albanian population as obtained from the 2011 population and housing census in urban and rural population, according to the current administrative criteria in the country and on the basis of European statistical standards, and to compare the differences at national and regional levels. The achievement of this objective allows the Institute of Statistics of Albania (INSTAT) to classify the territory of Albania for statistical purposes in compliance with EU standards, in order to ensure data comparability between Albania and EU countries.